Having established herself as the UFC’s next No. 1 contender at 125 pounds, Fiorot will enter her latest campaign on the strength of a 10-fight winning streak. The 32-year-old Frenchwoman last appeared at UFC 280, where she improved to 5-0 inside the Octagon with a unanimous decision over former two-division Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Katlyn Chookagian on Oct. 22. Now, Fiorot takes aim at longtime UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
As Fiorot awaits word from UFC matchmakers on her first assignment of 2023, here are five things you might not know about her:
1. She calls the picturesque French Riviera home.
Fiorot was born on Feb. 17, 1990 in Nice, France, a scenic city of some one million people nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps. It made global headlines in 2016, when an Islamic State-sponsored terrorist drove a truck into a crowd that had gathered to watch fireworks in celebration of Bastille Day. The attack resulted in 87 deaths and more than 400 injuries.
2. A traditional martial art serves as her base.
“The Beast” holds the rank of black belt in karate, a discipline in which she has won three national championships. Fiorot also owns a perfect 12-0 record in amateur muay thai.
3. She stumbled out of the gate.
Fiorot made her professional mixed martial arts debut on June 16, 2018, when she wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against Leah McCourt under the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship banner in Antwerp, Belgium. More than four years later, it remains the only blemish on her resume.
4. Gold buoys her portfolio.
The Boxing Squad representative has captured titles in two promotions: Extreme Fighting Championship and UAE Warriors. Fiorot laid claim to the EFC Worldwide women’s flyweight crown with a unanimous decision over Amanda Lino on Dec. 14, 2019 and took the UAE Warriors women’s flyweight belt when she put away Gabriela Campo with first-round punches on Nov. 27, 2020 in what was her final pre-UFC outing.
5. She thrives as a frontrunner.
Fiorot has been favored in all five of her Ultimate Fighting Championship appearances thus far, topping out at -625 before she cut down Tabatha Ricci with punches in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 189 undercard pairing in June 2021. That figures to change if, as expected, she challenges Shevchenko for the undisputed women’s flyweight championship sometime in 2023.